“What? You expect me to clap for you? You shouldn’t have bumped into me in the first place.”
“Neither should you.”
“That was completely different. I was—“I stopped talking and took a deep breath. “You know what? It doesn’t matter. I apologized, you apologized. Let’s move on.”
“Okay.” He looked even more amused now. “What’s your name?”
“I’m not sure I want to tell you.” I pulled back, sitting up straight.
“I’m just asking out of courtesy.”
“Out of courtesy?” I swiveled my seat to face him, my knees tapping his as I turned. “Meaning, you already know.”
“Amelia Bastón,” he said. “Daughter of Felipe Bastón. Lincoln Bastón’s sister.”
“Wow. Do you keep a file of family trees for all the girls you’re interested in?”
“Who says I’m interested?” Again, the ghost of a smile appeared and disappeared just like that.
“I’m deducing, you know, based on the fact that you left that to come over here and sit by me.”
I nodded to the table where his friends were sitting. They were flanked by girls on all sides, no longer just a group of guys having drinks at a bar. It had become a spectacle.
“Maybe I’m not interested in that.” He nodded over there.
“Which means you’re interested in this.”
“I am interested in you, yes. I’m trying to figure out how we’ve never met,” he said, “My older brother is friends with your brother George. Obviously, I know Lincoln, and yet, I’ve only heard of you in passing.” He paused, his gaze searching mine. “Why is that?”
“Maybe there’s nothing to tell. Maybe what you see is what you get, and as you can see, I’m not worth talking about.”
I didn’t mean to sound as self-deprecating as I did, but it was the truth. Yes, I was pretty, beautiful even. Yes, my family was wealthy, but I wasn’t any more spectacular than the guy sitting beside me. We were just spoiled kids with good genes. To some people that would be the epitaph of their life, I never wanted it to be mine.
“I think that’s a very unfair and false assessment of yourself,” he said, watching me a lot longer than was the norm for two strangers at a bar who were not going home together. Because I wasn’t—going home with him. He licked his lips before speaking again and I felt myself flush despite myself. “Do you play sports? Are you in any clubs?”
“I thought you knew everything about me.” I raised an eyebrow.
“If I knew everything about you, I wouldn’t have walked over here.”
“No, I don’t play sports and I’m not in any clubs. I am part of the newspaper as of a few days ago so I’ll be taking pictures of those who play sports and are in clubs.” I shot him a pointed look.
“Good to know.” He nodded, still watching me closely, so closely that I had to look away. My heart was beating too fast, too hard with his proximity. I kept my eyes on the bar even as he spoke again. “Are you planning on joining any other clubs?”
“If you’re asking me if I’ll join a sorority, the answer is no. I’m limited on friendship capacity at the moment.”
“You have too many friends?”
“I have two at the moment and that’s enough for me.”
At that, he chuckled. Our gazes caught again. The sound and the way his eyes twinkled made my heart skip. I seriously needed to get away from this guy.
“That’s an interesting take on friends.”
“It’s what I know.” I shrugged.
To be fair, I couldn’t really count Celia as a friend. So far, she’d proven to be a great roommate, with her absence and all, but friend? I guess technically Hailey was my only one here. I searched for her and found her standing on the other side of the bar, enthralled in conversation with someone. I guess as a bartender and barista, she was everyone’s friend.
“Why’d you transfer over here senior year?”
“You know, you ask a lot of questions and you haven’t even given me your name.”
“You haven’t asked.” His gaze flicked over mine. “You haven’t asked me anything.”
“So tell me. I already know you play hockey, obviously you go to school here so I’m assuming you’re smart, unless your hockey abilities are the only thing keeping you here, but this isn’t that kind of school.” I searched his eyes, God, it was so hard to search his eyes without seeming interested, or more interested. “What’s your name?
“Logan.”
“Logan.” I nodded, looking at him. “I can see that.”
“What? I look like a Logan?” His lips spread into a slow, wide smile, and I swear my heart stopped beating altogether.
“Yeah, you do.” I nodded slowly, mouth slightly ajar. His friends started shouting, being loud. We both turned our attention in that direction. One of them seemed to be getting in some kind of confrontation with another guy.
“Well, I have to go, Amelia.” He stood up, moving closer to me, close enough to touch me, without actually doing so. The hint of cologne he had on smelled really good as he turned toward me. My gaze slid up his obviously toned torso and thick neck as I aimed to look into his deep green eyes as he spoke. “I’ll see you around.”
He tapped the bar with his uninjured knuckles and walked away. I felt myself staring after him as he went over to where the guys were. There was more screaming, and now shoving. Logan got in the middle of it and started trying to break them up, but one of the guys shoved him hard, and it was all it took for him to pivot his body and punch him square in the jaw. The guy landed on the floor with a thump. It wasn’t until Hailey walked over to me that I realized I was gripping the edge of the bar.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
“This is a regular Thursday at The Bar. Welcome to town.” She smiled brightly, but it looked more like a grimace. “If you want to go out back, there’s a door right there you can use. It’ll lead you to the alley, but if you make a quick right, you’ll be out in the street.”
“Will you have to call the cops?”
“On them?” She looked at me like I’d lost my mind.
“I don’t know, on the entire group involved in the fight.”
Hailey scoffed. “They’ll probably arrest me before they arrest them.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.” I looked back at the brawl, which was still going, but now it was a screaming match between Logan’s friend that looked like Thor and some other guy.
“Their money talks. Mine makes me a mute.”
“Oh.” I blinked. I definitely understood that even if I hadn’t been on the mute side of things. “Well, yeah, I think I’ll go out the back way then.”
I set some money down for the drink I had as I stood and gathered my things. Once I’d made my way to the back door, I glanced over my shoulder one last time. As I did, Logan’s gaze lifted and met mine. He looked absolutely furious, but at least this time I knew it wasn’t with me. As I opened the door to the back, brittle air shot straight to me. I shut the door behind me and zipped my jacket all the way up, looking up and down the alley. There were two brightly lit streetlamps, so it wasn’t dark out here, but it was still much darker than I felt comfortable with. I idled by the door a little longer, looking up and down the alley once more. Finally, I heard a group of people, girls laughing, guys talking, and I sprinted in that direction. When I got to the populated sidewalk, I caught my breath and joined the herd of people walking in the direction of my apartment building.